At Sunday's 84th annual Academy Awards ceremony,
Colin Firth presented the award for Best Actress in a leading role. While he was speaking to the nominees, he singled out
Michelle Williams' work not only in "My Week With Marilyn," but in a film that they did together 15 years ago, titled "A Thousand Acres."

Firth praised Williams' professionalism and grace on the set, and noted that she was his mentor at the time, though she was only 12 and he was 35. He was exaggerating a bit -- Williams was 15 when the film was made -- but it
was one of her earliest projects.

In the film, a retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear" based on Jane Smiley's 1991 novel, Williams played Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter, and Firth her love interest. Williams didn't win the Best Actress Oscar tonight, but thanks to Firth, we were all reminded of just how far she's come -- and she emerged a winner anyway.